'Jeopardy!' Host Frontrunner Mike Richards Previously Accused Of Harassment By 'Price Is Right' Models
Aug. 6 2021, Published 11:00 a.m. ET
Fans are not too pleased to hear that Mike Richards might be the new host of Jeopardy!
After Variety reported that the current executive producer of the elevated quiz show made famous by Alex Trebek was in "advanced negotiations" with Sony Pictures Television to take over for the late legend, Richards' past involvement with sexual harassment and discrimination lawsuits became a topic of discussion online.
"I remembered when Mike Richards got sued for sexual harassment," tweeted one of his many critics. "Now he gets to host Jeopardy. #NoWords."
"Wait mike richards, who no one had heard of until today, who is also an executive producer of jeopardy, CHOSE HIMSELF TO BE THE NEW JEOPARDY HOST??" tweeted someone else, while a third added, "Mike Richards I have known who you are for twenty-four hours and that is more than enough time goodbye."
The lawsuits were filed by two former models on The Price Is Right – Brandi Cochran and Lanishia Cole – while Richards was a producer there.
Though Richards himself was not named as a defendant in Cochran's 2010 lawsuit, she did sue his company, FremantleMedia North America, as well as The Price Is Right Productions, Inc., claiming producers harassed and sidelined her after she became pregnant.
Cochran claimed Richards did not interact with her as much after she became pregnant and that he implied she would have been fired had her pregnancy not been kept secret.
She alleged she was pressured to announce her pregnancy on the air, and when she disclosed that she was carrying twins, she said she was given less work and subjected to cruel jokes about her weight gain.
Cochran revealed one of her twins died in a miscarriage and that the other was born three months prematurely.
She claimed she was pressured to lose the pregnancy weight so that she could return to work, only to discover she had been removed from the show's website.
The lawsuit was eventually settled.
Brandi Cochran
As for Cole, she sued Richards, another producer named Adam Sandler (no relation to the actor) and FremantleMedia North America in 2011, citing wrongful termination and sexual harassment.
In her lawsuit, Cole claimed producers humiliated and berated her in front of fellow employees and that Richards began ignoring her and favoring another model with whom he was in a relationship in 2009.
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Cole alleged Richards limited her modeling work on the show by creating policies "which never before existed."
"This case is about senior-level men in the entertainment industry exploiting power and control over women by bullying and harassing female talent," Cole's attorney, Solomon Gresen, told the Los Angeles Times at the time. "Ms. Cole did nothing to provoke Richards and Sandler. Once the harassment began, she was powerless to stop it."
Richards was dismissed as a defendant before the lawsuit was settled in 2013.
Lanishia Cole
